Note I have removed the company contact info since they only sell by bids apparently now (they had sold drives direct in the past as readers noted previously and was quoted to me - but today (8/30/2001) they even refused to sell me a drive via phone based on a previous email offer. So rather than get more mail from readers upset over the pricing others got via phone/direct sales vs bids, etc. I removed the company contact info. (They no longer wanted their phone number listed apparently due to calls wanting to buy the drive direct for prices that other readers had gotten previously. The auctions are bringing much higher prices, so I guess they only want to sell that way. (Please no more mails on this - there is nothing I can do.)
Problem Reports from Owners of This Drive: Although the report below is postive as at least one other report in the drive database, there have been several owners of this combo drive reporting problems with DVD playback, setting region codes, wake from sleep, etc. - see this problem reports page for detailed comments.

Mods to Set the Drive To Master: Both this drive and the 330 (CDRW only version) are fixed at a slave setting. Bill Donnelley sent a note on mods to set it to "master" (the normal setting for expansion bay drives). *This requires soldering so perform this at your own risk* - should you short the wrong pins you could damage the drive and perhaps the Powerbook. Here's a clip from the 9/18/2001 www.xlr8yourmac.com news page where Bill noted a
modification to make Matshita Combo DVD/CDRW Drive a Master vs Slave:

"
Chuck, Mike: After sleeping on this, I'm sure that pin 47 (CSEL) can be
safely tied directly to ground (no "pull-down") resistor. Therefore, an
equivalent, and slightly simpler means of pulling pin 47 low would be to build a solder bridge between pin 47 and the adjacent pin 45 (ground) on the interface board.
Bill D."

Complete Build Guide: (Added 8/23/2001) Although the photos below may be enough info for the build of this drive - another reader sent a
Complete Photo-Illustrated Build Guide for this drive using your original Pismo/Lombard drive caddy and faceplate/sideplate. *Note* - the above linked guide shows how to swap out the original side cover if your original drive is a Matsushita, for a perfect fit with no filing needed. If your drive is an LG, you can't transfer the side cover and you'll have to do the filing modification to the Combo drive's cover as shown below. (Apple System Profiler's Devices tab will report your original drive model info.)

Lombard DVD Player Notes: Remember if used in a Lombard G3/333 (without the DVD decoder chip), adding a DVD ROM drive will not add DVD player capability. The 1.x player requires a hardware decoder - the 2.x DVD players (software decoders) require a Rage128 or later ATI chip (only on the PB G3 firewire and PB G4 models). VST and Apple in the past sold a PCMCIA decoder card but I don't know of current sources or pricing for them.

Recently I have received two reader emails about notebook Combo DVD/CDRW drives (internal models) selling at ebay auctions. Last week there was a post here from a reader that modified a Dell combo drive for his Pismo, but the side panel could not be matched on the dell drive. (It cost about $120 less than the $479 MCE expansion bay Combo drive due to be available today.) The ebay auction prices noted were far less than either of these, but are not drop in of course. This reader noted using one in his Powerbook:

"
Mike: Great site ! I learn something of real use almost every day.
This is a follow-up to your article last week (7/31 news page) about Ed Lai's use of a Dell combo drive in his Pismo.

Based upon your article, I decided to look for a similar drive at
something less than Dell or VST's [actually that's MCE's combo drive, noted in the 7/31 news post.-Mike] list price.

I found and bought a Matsushita UJDA 710 combo drive on eBay,
but it does contain address and phone number in Los Angeles. I paid
$147.50 plus tax ($11.80) and
shipping ($7.50, UPS ground) for a total of $166.80. (NOTE - prices now are as much as double this based on some reader's comments on bid pricing)

While I haven't found an english data sheet, this is apparently an
8X/4X/24X/8X drive. [Note - this is faster than the 4x4 Toshbia R2002 drives usually found in notebook models, including the 2001 iBook combo drive model-Mike]

In addition to the
Matsushita UJDA 710 on the label it has a part number CPO84335-01,
probably the part number of the PeeCee laptop
manufacturer the drive was intended for. The 50 pin miniature ATAPI
connector on the back of the drive is
identical to the stock LG drive and the Dell drive Ed Lai used. I moved
the 3-piece caddy/adapter from the stock Pismo drive
to the combo drive without any problem. All (4) screw holes lined up,
same threads, etc.

I put in in last nite and it works like a charm with stock Apple drivers
in MacOS 9.2:

CDR: not supported in Apple Disc Burner 1.0.2, but works perfectly with
Roxio Toast Titanium 5.0.1 at 8X

CDRW: same as CDR except that with the old media I have could only get 4X (which may actually be the max for this drive...will pick up a faster media and check again.)

[Note: A reader sent a note that this model is a 8x4 (4xCDRW), not an 8x8 model according to http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware/dvd/combo.htm.]

This drive has a dark gray faceplate (similar to the Dell drive), but it
appears that it's shape is a bit closer to that of the
stock Pismo drive. To fit properly in the Pismo, I had to file a notch
in the lower right hand corner of the faceplate as
shown in the picture. I installed the drive temporarily without the
notch to get power to eject the mechanism. Faceplate
then removes with three screws so I could modify it off of the drive.
The pictures Ed sent seem to show a significant
(and fairly ugly!) gap around his Dell drive. This drive fits pretty
well, and the color is not objectionable, especially
as a trade-off for the added capability and excellent price for a faster
drive than the Dell.

Pix attached:

UJDA710 before notch (as shipped

ComboDrive Atapi Connector

UJDA710 with Pismo Caddy

UJDA710 in Pismo (shows the "notch")

UJDA710 in Apple System Profiler (MacOS 9.2)

I'll put this info in your [drive] database as well...-Bill D.

iTunes/DiscBurner Support Mod Notes: On 8/13/2001 Bill sent a note on how he's gotten iTunes to support the drive:

"
Mike: Wow! Thanks for the coverage. If anyone else is half as happy as I
am with one of these UJDA710 drives in their Lombard or Pismo, they'll
still be ecstatic.

After three days of reading and burning with ZERO problems, I'm convinced
this is a slick, stable, and very cost effective addition to my Pismo.

I also looked at the "Authoring Support Files" folder from Apple's
Authoring Support Update 1.1.2 (AppleCareKnowledgeBase Article 120032).
There IS a "MatshitaCDR" file, but upon inspection of the Data Fork with
"BrainHex 1.1" the only laptop drive listed is a UJDA310 (a 4X/4X/20X
CDRW drive, I think...no DVD).

I used BrainHex 1.1 to change UJDA310 to UJDA710, and saved the modified
file as "MatshitaCDR (mod)", replaced the original file in the Authoring
Support Files folder in the extensions folder, and re-booted. (My
presumption/hope here being that Matsushita made little or no change in
the commands recognized between the UJDA310 and the newer UJDA710).

Now, BOTH Disc Burner and iTunes recognize the UJDA 710 as "supported"
and burn both CDRW and CDR discs without a hitch. I've include a capture
of the iTunes Advanced Preferences panel which shows the UJDA 710
recognized as a 8X CDR drive ! I'll probably still use Toast for most
burning, but having the drive play nice with ALL of the stock Appple
programs, after an almost trivial change to one extension file, is a
really nice plus.
Bill D.
"

Bill later sent the modified OS 9 iTunes support file for those that
do not want to make the modifications noted above. (Disclaimer: There are
no warranties or assurances that this support file will work for
everyone.)

OS X iTunes Support Mod File: (from the Nov 21st, 2001 main www.xlr8yourmac.com news page)
I asked the reader that sent the Expansion bay Matshita Combo DVD/CDRW drive OS X support file mod instructions (in last Friday's 11/16/2001 news) if he could stuff the modified file and send it here for readers that had asked for it. I don't have the drive to test this file with and you may need to use the terminal (root) or OS 9 to copy the file over the existing one. .